Page 141 - Smith College Student Handbook 16-17

to achieve this through supporting the efforts of groups and individuals organizing around issues of justice, and educate the
campus through workshops, speakers, and various kinds of programming during the semester.
B. To serve as a link and resource for students and organizations interested in diversity and social justice issues.
C. To raise issues of diversity and social justice among the student body.
D. To promote awareness in the student body through new initiatives.
E. To promote awareness of systematic discrimination in the student body, and actively work to understand and dismantle
discrimination.
F. To provide the student body with educational resources, and host conversations relating to, systematic discrimination throughout
the college.
G. To respond to prominent acts of discrimination that occur locally and on campus.

SECTION 2. MEMBERS

A. Executive Board Members
1. The Chair of the Social Justice and Equity Committee;
a. The Chair shall be a rising junior or senior, elected in the spring all-college election for a term of one year
and subject to reelection.
b. The Chair must have been on the Committee for a minimum of one year, prior to their election.
c. The term for Chair shall begin at the cabinet meeting following the student’s election. The term shall end at
the cabinet meeting following the election of the Chair’s successor. The student shall be available for counsel
to the succeeding Chair for the remainder of the academic year.
d. The Chair will sit on Senate and optionally participate in Student Government Association cabinet in a voting
capacity.
e. The chair will plan and lead weekly eBoard meetings, in partnership with the Vice-Chair and Secretary.
f. The chair will plan and lead monthly General Body meetings, in partnership with all eBoard members.
g. The Chair will attend weekly eBoard meetings, and monthly general body meetings, as well as any meetings
required for other SJE commitments.
h. The Chair shall supervise the operational finances of the Social Justice and Equity Committee.
i. The Chair shall be responsible for maintaining regular communications between the Office of Inclusion
Diversity and Equity.
j. The Chair shall represent the student body on current administrative diversity and social justice committees.
k. At the beginning of the fall semester, the Chair (with the assistance of the Vice-Chair) is responsible for
conducting a needs assessment of the diversity and social justice organizations. The Chair may determine the
structure of the assessment, but the document produced must guide the diversity initiatives for the year.
l. At the end of the term of the Chair, the Chair and the Committee must collaborate to produce a detailed
history of the term. This history must be passed on to the next Chair, and preserved in the college archives.
m. The Chair is responsible for collaborating with the Office of Inclusion, Equity and Diversity to train the
Social Justice and Equity representatives of every house prior to the start of the fall semester.
n. The Chair shall be responsible for creating and publicizing methods of receiving diversity and social justice-
related requests and recommendations from the student body and student organizations and directing
questions to the appropriate student or administrative body for action.
o. Requests and recommendations may be expressed to the Chair through email, office hours, and student
forums.
p. Requests and recommendations may also be made through other members of the committee.
q. The Chair shall be responsible for organizing a forum for the student body to express views regarding the
state of the college with respect to diversity and social justice issues at least once per academic year.
r. The Chair shall continue to monitor the progress in administrative changes in response to the 2002
agreements between the Smith Grassroots Organizing Group and the administration of the college, as well as
the progress in administrative response to the Student Demands developed beginning in spring of 2012.
s. In the event that the office of Chair of the Social Justice and Equity Committee is vacated, it shall be filled
for the remainder of the term by the Vice-Chair of the Social Justice and Equity Committee, pending a
simple majority vote by the membership.
t. Should the Vice-Chair fail to be confirmed, the office may be filled by a member of the Social Justice and
Equity Committee who shall be self-nominated and elected by a simple majority of its membership. The
student must have been a Social Justice and Equity Representative for at least one full semester and must
have attended Smith College for at least two semesters.
u. The chair shall attend the weekly senate meetings as a voting member.
v. Conduct regular check-ins to with the SGA Liaison, ResLife Liaison, Org Liaison, Social Media Coordinator,
Secretary, Historian, and any other positions involving relationships between SJE and external individuals
and organizations, in order to provide support and hold them accountable.
i. The Chair must meet individually with each of the above leaders at least twice per semester (one
in the beginning to set goals, once at the end to evaluate success)
ii. The Chair must keep records of each meeting to refer back to in future meetings
2. The Vice-Chair of the Social Justice and Equity Committee;
a. The Vice-Chair shall be elected from within the body of the outgoing Social Justice and Equity Committee at
the first meeting following the SGA elections each spring and may be of any class year.

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